And This Is Your Life Now, Fred Weasley
by KeepCalmAndFuckItAll
Summary: (completely AU, fred centric, fred / oc, see authors notes) Fred Weasley was hit by a wayward spell during the Battle of Hogwarts. Instead of dying, he not only wakes in America, but almost 15 years in the future, in the current year, 2013, in the apartment of an American college student, Mariah Monroe. Will he be able to go home? And what happens when he starts to fall for her?
1. authors notes & cautions

**AUTHORS NOTES:**

As usual, I own nothing Harry Potter related. I wish I owned Fred Weasley, the sexy beast. Anywho, I'm not profiting off of this in any way, and this is in no way, shape or form supposed to be inspired by events in the movie or book series. This is just something I'd have liked to happen.

Reviews are loved, people, but no flames.

WARNINGS:

- swearing

- eventual sex

-AU twist to events from the last book/movie

- lots of fluff.

CHARACTER WARNINGS, PLOT WARNINGS:

(PLOT WARNING)

I've always wanted to give Fred an alternate ending, and I've had this story kicking around in the old noodle now. The plot depends on 2 things, really..

Instead of Fred's death, he's 'saved' at last minute by a wayward spell that not only sends him way the hell out of the war zone, but into the future, to the current year, 2013.. Yeah, talk about your epic fail, right?

The reason for this is simple.. The others can't find him and he can't find them when he eventually does regain his memory (At least the parts that he can't remember, he can remember his whole life UNTIL the night of the battle, that's a blur), until a certain point in the story, ;p

(CHARACTER WARNINGS)

!SexyFred, !WoundedFred, !AmnesiacFred, !AngryFred upon occasion, other character warnings to come

**THIS STORY IS FRED CENTRIC. OTHERS WILL BE IN SPORADICALLY AS I SEE FIT. ;p THIS IS HIS HAPPY ENDING, DAMN IT.**

**I realize the scenario proposed is very very out there and highly illogical. You don't have to tell me. I just wanted to post this and see if anyone might be interested in reading it. Reviews are loved, but no flames, please? I've only recently started uploading the stories I write.**

FATE'S LITTLE JOKES

20 year old Fred Weasley fell victim to a wayward spell during the Battle of Hogwarts and when he came to again, he found himself in the apartment of a 20 year old American female named Mariah Monroe, beaten, bruised and bloody. She tells him that she found him on the side of the road, wandering as if he were confused.

Not only that, but somehow, he's leapt from 1998 to the year 2013, with no affects to him age wise which is alone in itself enough to stump the male. Stuck in a strange country, almost 15 years in the future, with no idea how to get home, the last thing he's expecting to do is fall in love, right?

Well obviously Fate didn't get the memo.

When he finally gets a chance to return home, what will happen? What will he make of this 'second chance' this clean slate, as it stands currently?

And when he returns home, what will he be going back to?


	2. so i'm a time traveler now

CHAPTER 01:

_so I'm a time traevller now?_

The noises and the smell of smoke faded away gradually, and all Fred could feel was the sensation of floating. The bright flash that'd made him close his eyes was gone, and he was adrift in darkness for the moment. He tried calling out for help, but nobody answered.

The air around him was almost eerily silent, actually. It was almost as if the world might have imploded and he, Fred Weasley, were the only sole survivor.

His fall, however, wasn't as peaceful. He grunted and groaned, w rithed in pain as he felt himself make contact with hard and unmoving ground.

Sitting up, in a daze, he looked around. He lie in a paved road, with large expanse of heavily wooded forest on either side. Rubbing his shaggy ginger hair, he muttered a few swear words his mum would probably have swatted him for even knowing currently, and said aloud, " 'Ello?"

His voice echoed for what seemed to be miles.

"Where the bloody hell am I? What happened to me? George? Are you bloody pranking me, again, brother?"

No answer, only silence, the chirping of insects as the moon beamed down on him, full and bright.

The screeching of something loud, blinding lights and a lot of swearing moments later had him shielding his eyes, bracing himself for impact, because whatever the contraption was, it'd been coming at him faster than a bloody bullet from a Muggle's gun.

"Bloody hell." he muttered as his heart finally crawled down out of his throat and he attempted to stand, winced in pain and howled a few of his own swears, before deciding that maybe standing anytime soon wasn't a good idea.

And then the petite blonde appeared almost out of nowhere, leggy, yelling, her hands moving a mile a minute as she gave him the nagging of a lifetime. He couldn't really make out what she was saying, but he could tell she had a soft almost lilting accent that he found rather enchanting, he'd never heard it before.

"Are you a fuckin idiot?"

He looked around as if he were confused, and Mariah said impatiently, "Not you, the fairy sitting on your shoulder you big goofball.. Yes you.. The person who likes to just lie in the road, wait for any old thing to come speedin like a literal bat from hell, hit him... Well? Are you?"

"Nice to meet you too." he mumbled as she grumbled and raked her hand through thick almost Draco like blonde hair. The thought had him groaning..

"What the hell's your problem? Are you high?" she asked, holding her hand out, licking her plump pink lips as she eyed him warily.

"Not at the moment, no, doll." he said as he eyed her and asked, "Where the bloody blue hell am I?"

"Just outside of New Orleans, Louisiana." Mariah answered, blinking at the British accent. "You're not from around here, I take it, hon."

"No, I'm not. I'm from The Burrows."

"The huh? What the hell... Okay, you've gotta be tripping balls right now. Let's get you in the car, big guy."

"Bloody hell.. That thing's a car? Looks like a spaceship with wheels to me."

The blonde, however, was not amused and she said with a sarcastic tone, "Cute. Now, let's get your ass in here. I'd take you to the hospital, but it might not be smart, seeing as how you're acting like you're higher than a kite right now. What the hell did they give ya, big guy, a Molly?"

"My mum's name is Molly."

"Really, huh."  
"Really." he said as he looked at her. He got the distinct feeling that she thought he was a nut right now, a real whack job. Which only raised the question.. Was he insane? Was he losing it? Because he distinctly remembered being at the joke shop he and his brother owned not even mere hours before.

"Molly, big guy, is also the code name for this pill that people take.. Makes 'em act as loopy as you are right now. Are you trying to tell me that's what you took?" Mariah asked, her warm brown eyes glinting in curiousity as she looked ov er at him.

"Bloody hell, woman.. can you slow down?"

"What? I'm only doing 65. It's a backroad, hon.. Not gonna matter out here."

He eyed her warily, the speed was making him a little panicky, he'd just had a really long hard fall. Now the trees on either side of this 'backroad' according to the tiny slip of a blonde driving this speed machine were passing by like green and brown blurs.

The lights and knobs on the center area of the car were fascinating him, they glowed blue, almost like a flourescent blue in the darkness of the car. He was curious, of course, so he reached out and touched one and this loud and truth be told rather annoying music began to drift through the car.

Mariah cast her eyes on her passenger, reached over to the knob he'd just touched and turned it. The music was lower now, Fred breathed in and out as he said 'Thank the bloody heavens."

"What? You don't like?"

"Not especially no. Not with a bloody headache."

"Yeah, you're comin down now." she muttered as she turned on the interior light. Which made her wince and pull over, stop the car.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"What the hell are you stopping for? And shouting at me?" Fred argued back, frustrated currently by his situation, and both intrigued and angered by the tiny slip of a blonde who'd 'rescued' him, apparently.

Mariah muttered something in French – Creole, and then added, "My mama.. She told me one day I was gonna bring home one stray too many, it was gonna bite me right in the ass."

"I'll have you know, I'm not a bloody stray." Fred grumbled as he looked at her and tried to figure her out.

"Right, big guy.. You were wandering on the side of a damn backroad in the middle of the night, no wrecked car, you're beaten all to hell and back, bloodied, cut, probably coming down off of a high on God only knows what.."

He started to laugh and she looked at him, brow raised.

"You have to admit, doll.. It is funny."

Mariah thought about it a few moments, and then thought back over their conversation thus far, and she started to laugh so hard she was almost crying.

"If I tell you what I remember.. You promise not to start that bloody screaming and nagging bit again?" he asked quietly as he locked eyes with her, glint of mischief in his eyes.

"Dunno, big guy, it depends on how utterly stupid it sounds."

"I only remember being in the shop my brother and I own, this morning. After that, I remember falling. Then a damn bloody hard landing."

"Okay then.. So, did you get into a fight, maybe and get dumped out on the side of the road for dead?"

Fred bit his thumb in thought as he said aloud, "No, I don't think so."

"What's your name?"

"Fred Weasley. And yours?"

"Mariah Monroe."

He nodded, going into thought mode again.

The lighting up and ringing of what appeared to be a hand held AND cordless muggle phone, had him raising a brow.

She looked at the caller id, rolled her eye, muttered the word Jackass and tossed the phone down.

"What was that about?"

"Old boyfriend. He calls when he's drinking. Which apparently, is all the time."

When she wasn't looking, he snuck a glance at the device and gaped at the display screen. "What's today's date?" he asked casually, covertly sliding the phone down into the circular hole in the center console of the car.

She snickered a little and then said "Whatever you had.. Somebody gave you some bad shit, cherie."

"I've taken nothing. I'm not how'd you bloody put it? High."

"Sure, cherie." she said as she looked at him then realized his face was serious now, his eyes didn't have the playful gleam.

"Wow.. It's umm.. It's August 25th, 2013."

"Bloody hell."

She laughed a little and kept her thought on his rather unusual outburst to herself.

A few things were starting to click into place, she was beginning to realize that there was something, while amusing, in all honesty, there was also something totally off about this entire situation she found herself in currently.

She parked her car in the parking space allotted to her and said "Judging by all the wincing and gritting your teeth you did when I helped you into the car.. Thinking it'd be better if I came around, helped you out?"

He nodded and prepared himself for the pain that was probably going to come in waves when he went to stand, while still tryin to get his head around the fact that not only was he in America, of all places.. But he was somehow in the year 2013.

That would explain the car.

And the talking device.

And her bizarre yet oddly enticing clothing.

He snickered as he looked down at her feet, saw her wearing a pair of boots with shorts.

"What the hell's so funny?"

"Nothing, doll.. Not a thing. Indoors, shall we?" he asked, looping an arm around her to steady himself as she helped him through the door of her small apartment.

Once they were inside, he looked around, fascinated by everything the future bought with it, apparently.

Mariah watched him with a raised brow, blushing when his eyes landed on the messy assortment of dirty laundry littering the floor of her hallway, but ultimately shrugging it off. This guy acted like he hadn't seen a lot of this stuff in her place before.

"Wow.. he's on one hell of a trip right now."

But in the back of her mind, she was getting the nagging feeling that something was off about this situation.

"Off with the shirt."

" I know I'm a sexy beast, but really?" he joked as she glared a moment and tugged the shirt he wore up and over his head, flinging it at her laundry basket. She winced as her eyes roamed over a muscular yet bruised pale chest.

"Wow.. Someone really worked you over, hon." she muttered as she moved about the small room, the kitchen, apparently, gathering the few medical supplies she actually possessed.

Sitting in a chair in front of him, she worked dilligently on cleaning out the cuts, scrapes and small gashes he had all over his chest and back, arms. "Were you here on vacation?"

He shook his head and she looked at him and then tried again, "Visiting someone maybe?"

"I told you in your car.. The last thing I remember is being at the store my twin brother and I own, this morning, in the year 1998, in the United Kingdom."

"You're gonna stick to that, huh?"

"It's the bloody truth."

"Okay, whoa, relax.. Did you say 1998?"

He nodded as he looked at her, getting a better view of the girl who'd probably saved his life just now, for all he really knew. "You're cute. Feisty, but cute."

"And he's charming too." she joked as she gave a sllight wink and then said "Just so you know.. I don't do this.. Ever. But I almost hit you out there.. And you scared the hell out of me."

He nodded and then smirking said "Never accused of doing this all the time, doll."

"Look, Fred.. We both need sleep.. Maybe in the morning, we'll be able to figure something out. I'm gonna.. I'm gonna go grab you a blanket, a pillow.. You can crash on the couch."

"Thanks." he muttered as he looked at her, then watched her walk down the hallway and disappear into a room at the end.

While she was out of the room, he wandered around the small apartment aimlessly, getting a feel for the place.

If he were stuck here...

No, he wasn't going to let himself think that way. There had to be a way to get himself home.. Something in the back of his mind told him that his way home would be a long time in coming, however.

He went back over every single thing he remembered and swore as he said "Why the bloody hell couldn't Granger have been round when I got zapped and landed here. Girls got answers for bloody everything." as he palmed his face, pacing, concerned.

If he was here, was his family back there? Were they safe? Did they know he was still alive? His stomach sank as it set in.. They might think him dead.

"This is great."

Mariah changed quickly into some boxers and her LSU baggy jersey, and shedding her boots, she dug around, found him a pillow and grabbed a black velvet comforter from her closet.

"What if he's not lying?"

She shook her head and muttered, "Don't be ridiculous."

Something about him.. He seemed hell bent to stick to his story.. If he were lying, it wouldn't be as vague.

"Fuck my life right now, seriously.. How in the hell am I gonna help him figure this out?"

She sighed as she heard her mother's favorite saying echoing around in her mind.

'Everything happens for a reason, cherie.'

She composed herself and stepped back into the hallway, walked down into the living room, biting her lower lip as she realized that he was standing almost chest to chest with her, towering over her. "I found you a pillow and a blanket."

"Thanks.."

Her eyes roamed over him slowly and she mentally kicked herself. Was she seriously checking the guy out right now? Seriously?

His eyes roamed over her body slowly and he inwardly groaned as he felt like the air was being sucked from the room. His dad told him once that when he first met his mum, this is how he felt.

"So, umm.. Fred.. Anything you like for breakfast?" she asked as she raked her hand through what he now knew to be thick and very long blonde hair. It'd been half up, half down, sort of messy and windblown earlier.

Her bangs flopped down into her eye and he reached out, tucked the fallen strands of hair behind her ear as he shrugged and said with a smirk, "Food, I suppose."

"Smartass." she muttered as she hid a smile, and then said " If you start to feel like you're in too much pain, wake me.. I'll find you tylenol or something. The bathroom is the second door." she said as she opened the door to her small and messy bathroom, to show him and then said "Light on or off?"

"Off, bloody hell sleeps with the lights on?" he asked as he looked at her, both of them laughing a little.

"I'm gonna go to bed now. It's been one hell of a night." she said quietly as she turned, walked out of the room.

"Only I would go and pick up a hot but badly beaten hitchhiker who's claiming he's from 1998 and that the last thing he remembers is being in the United Kingdom with a twin brother. Guess it's a damn thing daddy gave me that pistol.." she muttered as she bit her lower lip.

Something told her that this incredibly handsome stranger wasn't going to hurt her. She tended to operate on instinct, never questioning her gut about someone. If he'd been a bad guy, she'd have felt it somehow she had to hope.

"Just hope this doesnt' bite me in the ass." she muttered as she lie there, trying to figure this bizarre little predicament they were apparently in out.

"Fuck it. I'll figure this out in the morning when I'm not so tired." she muttered at last before finally going to sleep for the night.


	3. so i'm a time traveler now continued

A/N: I've decided, in the interest of keeping this interesting.. The story also has the element of the 'books come to life' type thing.. Like where your favorite character steps from the pages and into the real world? It'll be explained better as the story progresses.

OMG, thanks to _wingsaremadetofly715_ for the fave. I'm so honored and thrilled that you count this story among your favorites!

* * *

CHAPTER 02:

_so I'm a time traevller now? (continued)  
_

All night, she'd lie there, tossing and turning, wondering where she'd heard his name before. She was almost certain she HAD in fact, heard his name before.. But she'd never seen him before in her life. It was morning now and she knew she should get up, go check on the guy, but this current mystery was kicking around in her brain and she was determined to figure it out.

Her eyes caught on a photograph from her memory board, she stood in front of the "Harry Potter's Wizarding World" Exhibit in Orlando. "Wait a minute.. " the perceptive blonde muttered as she got up, dug through an overstuffed and small closet, throwing things here and there until she found them in the bottom of a box.

Her prized possessions, her book series.. She had everything from Harry Potter, to the Lord of the Rings series, a few of the rarer Nancy Drews, and several others, most recently, she'd added, much to her chagrin, her first erotica series, the 50 Shades series, to this list.

She grabbed one of the Harry Potter books at random, sank down onto the floor in front of her closet, legs splayed rather clumsily, letting her eyes scan the pages as she found it. "Bingo."

She shut the books firmly, walked into the living room, the book still in her hand. "What's your REAL name? Because Fred Weasley is an alias. It's a made up character in a book series. Nice try, hon, I'm blonde not stupid." she said as he looked up from the hysterical laughter he'd been doing at the cartoon he was watching.

"What the hell? Seriously? You're eating my lucky charms?" she asked as she tried to ask him again.

"Shh.. This is bloody brilliant!" Fred crowed with laughter as he watched some wolf like animal try and outsmart a bird who ran really fast, only to have an anvil dropped on his own head seconds later.

"It happens every show." Mariah said as she took the remote, turned off the television and looked at him. The bruises and scars were still there, she winced, her teeth grazing her full lips as she sat on the table in front of him, and for the third time, repeated her question.

Fred gaped at her as she basically accused him of lying to her, about his name, who he was.

She held a thick and well thumbed through stack of books at him and he groaned while having the amusing thought, _' Bloody hell, it's like being with Hermione right now.. Only she's got really long legs and she's barely wearing a stitch of clothing and she looks much prettier when she right pissed off.' _

"Eyes up here, Casanova." Mariah said as she tilted his chin bringing his gaze upward to her face. "So, are you going to start explaining, or are you sticking to your story from last night?"

He moved on the couch, felt something in his jeans pocket poking his side.. His wand was always in that jean pocket, maybe it would work here? He highly doubted it would, so maybe a spell? There had to be something he could to to prove himself not a liar.

Mariah had the passing thought _'If only he WERE Fred Weasley.. That guy was the major love of my teenage life. He got me through some really, really dark times, his antics with his brother, his jokes..' _but she quickly shoved it out of her mind and said "Well? Was it like, a cosplay gone awry or something?"

"What's a bloody cosplay?"

"It's ... Basically, not that I actually do this, Fred, whatever the hell your real name is.. But you dress up as your favorite book or tv or comic book character and you roleplay as them.."

"Okay then." Fred raked his hand through his ginger hair, studied her intently, his eyes roaming slowly over her small curvy body. His eyes caught on a picture of her, younger, wearing oversized glasses, a little thicker in size, sitting on a nearby bookshelf and he barely hid a wry grin as he didn't think, just muttered the word, really "Accicio" and made the photograph fly to his hands.

Mariah froze as she watched the photograph lift up, land in his hands as he looked at it. She blinked then asked, "How the hell did you do that?"

Fred shrugged and said "You can't?"

"Umm, no, normal people can't just move things by saying..." she bit her lip, pacing. Oh, she'd heard him when he muttered a spell under his breath.. But this, the books were NOT based on fact, they were works of fiction, hence the reason they were found in the fiction area of her favorite book store when she'd bought them.

The words of her professor rang in her ears from last semester 'Within every work of fiction, lies a basic grain of truth' meaning even the most outrageous of lies, well... If the circumstances were right, they could be true, if you really wanted to look at things.

"My name is Fred Weasley." he muttered as he dug around, managed to find something with his name on it in the overstuffed and messy trifold wallet he kept on his person, in case he ever had the whim to go into the non magical world when he was in London.

She took it, giving him a wary look as she read over the small plastic coated badge of ID. Then she was back to pacing, muttering to herself, which truth be told had the 20 year old male a little irritated.

"Would you sit down, woman? Bloody hell." he muttered as he stood, his hands on her shoulders, pushing her down onto the couch, her happening to fall into his lap. He may or may not have arranged that, purposely, smirked in amusement as he said quietly, "Those books. Let me see them, doll?"

"I,uhh,okay.." she muttered, a little more than perplexed, finding herself sitting on the lap of what could be her 'fictional crush'...

She reached behind her and grabbed the books from the place she'd sat them on the couch and handed them to him as she said "If this is happening.." under her breath, mostly to herself.

He flipped one open, started scanning over it, his hand in his hair, perplexed.. According to the book he held in his hand, right now, Fred Weasley died a hero's death during the final battle of the Second Wizarding War, along with several other comrades, old friends. "Bloody hell. I bloody made it.. I'm right here." he muttered as he closed the book, looked at his hands, confused utterly right now.

"Yeah? Well according to that, you didn't.. Which leads us to this.. How the hell do you get back there?"

"If I bloody died, not sure if I want to go back?" he muttered as he looked at her and sighed then said quietly, "I have no clue, doll. It appears that for whatever reason, I'm stuck here, in this year."

He had the passing thought that maybe he should make the best of it, because according to the 'history' book he just read, if that's what it even was, what he might be going back to.. Well, it might be grim. Did he really want to return only to die?

Then he thought of course, of his family, his friends he'd left behind when he somehow managed to cross from one realm of existance to another. If he did it once.. Maybe he just had to wait until conditions were right, and try it again?

The thought still troubled him.. How to let his family know he was really alive?

"F-fred?"

"Yeah, doll?"

"You can loosen your grip on me, maybe? You're sort of smooshing me.." the curvy tiny slip of a blonde mumbled as she tried to figure out just how many laws of science, of nature, of pretty much everything logical, really, this, his being here, in her apartment, right now, was breaking.

And if he got here.. How was he getting back? Should he even GO back? What if he did and he died?

"Sure. S-sorry." he stammered as he said quietly, "For now.. Looks like I'm stuck here. I'm sure there's a bloody way back.. I just.. I need to think about whether I want to go back.." his voice dropped off, the sentence from the book, _"And Percy was shaking his brother, and Ron was kneeling beside them, and Fred's eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face." _was literally haunting him.

Was that how he'd gotten so banged up? In a war he really didn't remember now, to be quite honest?

"Fred, you're smooshing again. You can let me up, really, I mean.. This is sort of.." she muttered as he asked, "Sort of what? Weird? You're damn right it's bloody weird. You've read those a lot, haven't you?" he asked, nodding at the books, then at the pretty and tiny blonde still sitting in his lap where he'd pulled her. He tried to ignore the fact that she wore a t shirt and not much else, and that she had an incredibly long set of legs, or that her skin was soft against him, or that her hair smelled like fresh if not over ripened strawberries.

He tried to ignore the fact that with as close as she was sitting, there in his lap, where he'd stupidly pulled her, in a moment of surefire cockiness, was really doing a number on him, and that he could hear her heart beating like a runaway train. And that all of this, his even being alive, apparently, well.. It defied all odds.

"Yeah, I have.." she admitted as she looked at him and then asked, "What happens now? I mean even assuming I can get my head around all of this... It's really really out there.. I'm still not entirely convinced you're NOT lying."

"Yeah? Well I'm not." he muttered grimly, his fuse, the often talked about Weasley fiery temper surfacing for a moment as he remembered this wasn't exactly her fault, and if she'd been a cold hearted girl, he'd still be lying in the ditch he'd landed in, or probably dead by now, because if all other Muggles and Squibs drove as she did, well..

It's a bloody wonder anyone was still kicking around in this realm of reality.

"Okay, alright, damn it." she muttered as she looked at him and made herself stand, turn to leave the living space of the small and cluttered apartment as he all but had a pretty damn violent melt down, throwing a few things here and there, swearing. She stood in the kitchen, her hand in her hair, leaned in the doorway, watching him.

She couldn't really blame him, he was angry, confused, trapped in a time he didn't belong in, obviously. The anger fit finally ended and he looked at her and muttered sheepishly, "Sorry. I was a git just now."

"I don't blame you."

They stared at one another for a few moments and he moved to stand in front of her, smirk on his face as he said "One good thing about this, doll.."

"Yeah?"

"Least I've got something pretty to stare at ." he muttered, giving her a sly wink as he moved past her and into the kitchen, looking around at her microwave, her refridgerator, all of the other Muggle artifacts that until now, he'd only really seen in books or here and there. "Whoa, whoa.. Don't touch anything just yet." she muttered from behind him as she tried to shake her shock.

He'd really just hit on her.. In the midst of all this, he was hitting on her." I picked one hell of a time to stop keeping alcohol in the house." she muttered to herself as he laughed in amusement at her.

"Show me how these things work, yeah? I mean I'm obviously bloody stuck here."

"Fred, we don't... We don't know that yet."

"Pretty damn sure of it, doll."

"Okay, alright.. So this is the microwave. It's my lifeline, if I didn't have it, wouldn't eat. I'm not the best cook.." she muttered, blushing beneath her deep summer tan.

"Those buttons, what do they do?" he asked from behind her, standing so close that she dropped the hot pockets she'd grabbed from the fridge nearby, and blushed all over and her voice came slightly gaspy, shaky when she said back, "They, umm.. Fred, you're doing it again, flustering me."

"Pretend I'm not here."

"Kind of difficult, big guy." she muttered to herself as she turned, found herself brushing against him as she looked up.

The books definitely pegged his personality right, outgoing, confident, bold..

Which she, of course, happened to be for the most part, the exact freaking opposite.

He smirked to himself as he asked, "Well?"

"Oh.. You take the wrapping off of the food." she instructed as she handed him a hot pocket, watched him eyeing it warily.

She took it and peeled the plastic off then said "Like this. Most people use the pouches inside to cook these damn things. I don't, because every time I've tried, get frost bite in the middle and you're scorching your tongue on the ends."

"Bloody hell, woman, this food.. Is it safe to eat?"

"Yeah.."She took the hot pockets, put them in the microwave, turned on the timer for 2 minutes and said casually, "You enjoy it, don't you?"

"What?"

"Flustering me." she asked, scowling at him a little.

"Don't give me that look, doll. You blush and make those little faces, so yes, it amuses me." Fred joked, winking, laughing a little.

He couldn't help it really. And if he were going to be stuck here in this time, maybe for now, he should just make the best of it, learn things about the world that lie ahead for his siblings so he could tell them about it when he went back.

"You fluster me too, you know. Walking round in nearly bloody nothing, save knickers and a shirt that you're practically swimming in." he admitted, his eyes fixed on her.

"Like I'm really something to look at, Fred." she muttered as she bit her lower lip, stared right back.

Was it getting hot in here? And how in the hell was she going to make this arrangement work until something about his predicament came to light at last?What if it NEVER did?


	4. 2013 1998

A/N: I've decided, in the interest of keeping this interesting.. The story also has the element of the 'books come to life' type thing.. Like where your favorite character steps from the pages and into the real world? It'll be explained better as the story progresses.

And the twists keep coming.. Back in 1998, the gang is learning that there is a chance that people thought dead during the war might still be alive.. But will they believe it yet? ;p

OMG, thanks to _wingsaremadetofly715 and sapurplemonkey _ for the follow and the fave. I'm so honored and thrilled that you count this story among your favorites!

No flames please? This is AU, just for fun mostly, just bringing back my beloved fred, giving him a love story. It's meant to be fluffy, sort of sexy, really funny more than anything.. Wasn't it depressing enough that he had to die in the books and then again in the movie? I had to at least TRY and write this when the muse struck. FYI, when she's on the bar dancing, it is not dirty.. It's more like some of the tamer stuff in the Coyote Ugly movie.. Just saying.

* * *

CHAPTER 03:

_2013 has it's perks / surprising revelations  
_

He'd been in the year 2013 for almost 2 weeks now, and so far, he was realizing.. It wasn't that bad. Aside from his family not being there to tell his adventures to, and believe, there were many of those, everything was exciting, it was new, there was so much for Fred Weasley to do, see, experience and .. There was her.

He was still staying with Mariah, of course and the two of them were, well.. They had this odd sort of friendship? He couldn't really explain it. They were either arguing constantly, or casually flirting with one another constantly.

She was a feisty little thing, really, he liked that about her, he mused to himself as he stood in the doorway of the bathroom in the apartment, watching her sitting on the counter, putting in contact lenses, getting ready for another night of work.

"Bloody hell, woman."

"What?" she asked as she jumped. She still hadn't fully gotten her head around the fact that somehow, Fred Weasley was in her apartment, staying there, like he stepped right from the pages of the books she loved so much as a teen.

"Do you have to wear that, doll?" he asked as his eyes roamed her legs, then her bare midriff, up higher until he finally met with her warm brown eyes.

"Yes, Fred.. I have to wear this. It's my work uniform."

"Where the bloody hell do you work?"

She smiled a little then asked, "Do you wanna come out with me tonight? You can hang out while I'm working.. You can learn more about Football.. There's a big game on, they'll be playing it on the monitors at the bar."

He thought it over. He was getting tired of sitting around the apartment, doing nothing with himself.

Shrugging casually, he asked "Do they have firewhiskey?"

"Oh no you don't."

"If I'm going to a bar, doll.. Going to drink." he muttered, leaning in, his lips close to her ear, looking at them in the mirror.

He had the passing thought that he wondered what George would think, meeting this feisty little American from the year 2013.

"Fred, you're doing it.. Again."

"Doing what?" he pretended innocence as he looked at her, watched her scowl turn into a smile in less than a minute. "You really can't stay good and bloody mad at me, can you?"

"Sadly, no."

"I've been told I have a gift for that." he muttered as he laughed when she slid her feet into boots.

"Okay, big guy, stop being a flirt, let's go." she said as she hopped from the counter and groaned as he of course, used magic to turn off the lights.

"What?"

"You might not wanna do that tonight."

"Who me?" he asked, hiding a smile.

"Damn it, Fred, really? Yes, you.. No dangling someone from the ceiling, okay? That lady at the cleaners damn near had a stroke when she saw the panties dancing."

He shrugged then pretended to pout for a few minutes as he snickered and said "The look on her face though.. The look on yours."

"I was pissed, Fred.. Those were MY damn panties you were making dance."

The bar, he discovered, was noisy, crowded and full of people.. Doing something that couldn't legally, or at least he thought, be called dancing.

"Bloody hell woman." he growled a little, grabbing her elbow, pulling her back out the door. "You need a new job."

"Fred.."

"What?"

"Is that a hint of jealousy I detect?"

He shrugged, smirked as he muttered, "Going to drive me right up the wall you are, doll."

They walked back in once she finally got him to see that all she did was serve people food, and he made a mental note to watch her, make sure nobody got out of the way or something else with her.

He liked her, they were friends, he wouldn't let someone treat Hermione like the guys in this place treated some of the girls.

And deep down, though he was stubbornly refusing to admit it, he was getting attached to the tiny feisty blonde.

She shoved a plate of chips covered in some kind of sauce in front of him and took one, biting into it, raking it through the sauce.

He took a bite, groaning as he did so. "What is this?"

"You've never.. Oh boy.. This is like the top of the junk food chain.. These, Fred, are nachos."

He didn't answer of course, he was busy stuffing his face.

"Ickle Ronnie would really, really bloody love this." he groaned again as he realized the orange sauce was on his fingers and started licking greedily, only to have Mariah grab his hand, lick some of the sauce off then shrug, winking.

"Cheeky tonight."

Again, another shrug. The tvs came to life and he watched the sport Muggle americans called football.. Hermione spoke of football once, but it was nothing like this.

These men hit with their bodies. The soccer she'd talked about once before, they weren't allowed to have any body contact, and the ball couldn't be controlled by hand.. Only feet.

"Bloody hell." he yelped as a man went down, and about 10 others piled on top of him.

"So you go for the Saints too, huh buddy?" a guy sitting next to him asked and he nodded, shoveling more of the food in, hoping to hell he didn't say something weird.. He'd done that a lot since he'd found himself in the Muggle world, in the future, in America.

Everything was new to him.

The lights dimmed and then music started, Fred jumping a little. Mariah laughed and walking past on her way to a table, her arms loaded with trays, she said with a wink, "Relax, would ya?"

And then on her way back, two girls he'd met before, who apparently also worked here, grabbed her hands, dragging her to the bar as a rock song he'd heard playing on her funny little music device started to play.

"If she bloody dances to it like she does back at the apartment." he groaned as he watched the three giggling girls get up on the bar, and yes, she did.. Exactly like she did at the apartment they were sort of temporarily sharing.

The man next to him whistled and then asked, "My girls on the left.. If you're sitting here as long as we have been man.. Which one of 'em are you here with?"

"The leggy one in the middle, mate." Fred answered as he tried to hide the slight smirk as he copied the American man next to him, whistled.

Mariah heard him whistling and groaned inwardly, blushing all over. Her knees were shaky, because she'd figured that he'd probably decline coming tonight.. But he hadn't. And he was sitting there..

The song ended and she hopped down from the bar, walked over to him as she smiled and said "And it's my break now.. Ready for another lesson in how to blend?"

"Aren't I always?"

She pulled him off the stool and started to drag him towards the dance floor, laughing about it. "You, Fred Weasley.. Are going to learn how to dance."

"Am I, really.."

"really. You are."

He smirked, pulled her against him and then muttered, "According to those books about me and my family, my friends, doll.. I already sort of know how." as he slid his hands to her hips and held her against him, looking down, hint of a grin as she gasped in surprise.

The song ended just as he brought her back up from the 'dipping' position he'd had her in and he shrugged casually as she bit her lower lip and then said with a quiet smirk, "Not bad.. So.. Is it as bad as you imagined here?"

"Not really. Bloody thought I'd have a fight on my hands, you wearing that, dancing like that a little while ago."

"Me, nah."

"You, yes."

"Are you really gonna argue me on this, Fred.. I've told you a thousand times.. You're going blind or something, because I am not pretty."

he gaped at her and then shook his head quietly as he kept quiet.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in 1998

"What do you mean he might still be alive?" George asked, Ron groaning as he glared at the person who'd just told George that some people were saying that Fred actually disappeared and wasn't dead.

"We buried him."

"We all saw it. The explosion hit and he was lying there."

"Apparently, when everything calmed down, mate, somebody realized that the Death Eaters were transforming into us, all of us, during the battle. It's a mess, it really is, now they're having to go back and try to figure out who really died, who didn't as the spells wear off."

"What the bloody hell do you mean?"

George sat silently and spoke up as he said quietly, "Haven't felt like he was gone. I'd have known, I think."

"Where the bloody hell is he then?" Sheamus asked as the person speaking to them, in the tavern shrugged and said "Can't figure that out."

The talk turned from the subject and Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny and George all shared a collective sad look and sigh. They were pretty certain that their luck wouldn't hold, that he was gone, lost to them.

Or at least 4 of them were. George sat sipping his pint of firewhiskey thoughtfully.

He kept having these weird and random dreams he couldn't explain.. Maybe his subconcious was trying to clue him in?

He sighed and said quietly, "Going back to the shop now." as he stood and after paying for his pint of Firewhiskey, he walked out into the early evening, his hands in his pockets. Deep down, he had to wonder if maybe the bar keeper weren't on to something.. After all, that last battle had been fast, loud and intense.

There was really no way to know what happened.

"But if he IS alive.. Where the bloody hell is he? And why the bloody hell isn't he coming home?" he muttered as he shook his head, angered at himself for wanting to believe, but not being able to stop himself,either.


	5. making a move sort of

A/N: I've decided, in the interest of keeping this interesting.. The story also has the element of the 'books come to life' type thing.. Like where your favorite character steps from the pages and into the real world? It'll be explained better as the story progresses.

OMG, thanks to _wingsaremadetofly715 and sapurplemonkey _ for the follow and the fave. I'm so honored and thrilled that you count this story among your favorites!

No flames please? This is AU, just for fun mostly, just bringing back my beloved fred, giving him a love story. It's meant to be fluffy, sort of sexy, really funny more than anything.. Wasn't it depressing enough that he had to die in the books and then again in the movie? I had to at least TRY and write this when the muse struck.

* * *

CHAPTER 04:

"No way in bloody hell am I eating that." Fred said as he eyed the wiggling crawfish warily and then looked at Mariah, brow raised. "Oh come on. Try it."

"Do you bloody see me asking you to eat a worm, doll?" he asked, as he looked at her, arms crossed, hint of a smirk on his face. If George and the others were here, he'd have to try it, because George would nag him, taunt him until he dared.

She handed him an ear of corn, butter dripping off, as she licked her fingertips. He grabbed her small hand, licked the butter off of one of her fingers and winking said "Now that.. Was good."

She blushed and then said "I warn you now.. It's super spicy."

He shrugged and said with a grin, "I think I can handle that. I've eaten spicy food before, doll, not an alien, remember?"

"Okay, big guy, if you say so.. Then you won't be needing this.." she said with a smirk as she slid the Muggle equivalent to butterbeer from in front of his plate and took a huge sip. He bit into the corn and at first, nothing.. And then, his tongue began to burn a little, and soon he was fanning his mouth and grumbling, begging for a sip of the muggle butterbeer.

"Big baby." she muttered as she licked her lips and held out the beer, asked, "Truce?"

"I don't know, doll.. You nearly set my entire bloody mouth on fire. I knew there was a little troublemaker in there somewhere." he muttered as he leaned in a little, brushed her bangs back from her eyes and stared at her a moment, smiling. "My brothers would love you.. And my sister."

"Not sure, really.." Mariah mumbled as she looked at him. He tilted her chin up and said quietly, "Are you alright?"

"Just wondering if this is some kind of glitch in time.. I'm.. I'm sort of getting used to having you around, bugging me, pranking me.. Or sneaking onto campus and mooning me while my professor's trying to put me to sleep with a lecture."

He snickered and then said "I almost flew by on a broom.. Thought that might be frowned upon.. Don't actually know if I can do that, really."

"And you've been drinking, there is no way in hell I'm handing you a broom so you can do whatever to it and make it fly." Mariah laughed, her hand going to her mouth as she looked at him and seconds later, let out an earsplitting burp.

_'Forge.. This feisty little blonde.. You would like her. I can hear you now, you arse, telling me to quit stalling and go for it. And I am. I just.. I hope I get to introduce you all to her.' _he thought to himself as he looked at her, watched her taunting a younger cousin of hers with a live one of the crawfish, laughing to himself as she did so.

Today had been a family thing for her family, she'd dragged him along, introduced him to them as her boyfriend.. Their cover story was that he was here on a student visa (which he was, they'd found some highly secret and probably very illegal way to acquire him one, so technically, he was a 'student' in America with a new identification card, everything, and he was even thinking of taking some business class or something when the next semester started.)

Her father laughed as he sat down next to him and said "So... She's something."

Fred sensed a father / boyfriend talk coming, he wasn't too sure what to make of it, especially considering that any moment, the 'glitch' he found himself in currently could very well reverse and he could either wake up in 1998, or he could not wake at all. Both things worried him.. He wanted time to plan, he wanted a way to bring her back with him..

But they weren't beyond the friend stage yet.. he may be bold, daring and confident, but he was also old fashioned, a trait that no doubt came from his father. He wanted to take time, properly get to know the tiny blonde that'd been stealing his heart since she swore at him after almost hitting him the night they met.

"Yes sir, she is." he said as he watched her playing in the bouncing tent with several smaller children. This side of her, he hadn't seen. She seemed happy, relaxed.. Not like during the week when she was worried about school, or work, or her car messing up, or any other number of things. Or just being serious.

"You must be special to her.. Hasn't really bought anyone home to meet us." her father said as he looked at Fred and then said "I didn't think I'd like it.. The day she bought a guy home to meet us all.. But you seem like a decent guy. Don't hurt her and we'll be fine, son." as he sipped his beer and then stood as he said "Glad we had that talk."

Fred nodded, slipping back into thought.

Seconds later, she bounced back over, shoeless, flopping into his lap, sitting a baseball cap crookedly on his head. He laughed and then stood, holding her as he got a wicked gleam in his eye and eyed the bouncing tent. "That looked like fun."

"It did. Where the heck are you taking me?"

"Over there. I want to play too." he laughed as he shed shoes and flipped into the bouncing tent, gently dropping her, then almost falling on her when one of her smaller cousins bumped into him, giggled about it.

"Hi." she muttered as she looked up at him, hiding a smile, trying not to laugh as his hands tickled along her ribcage. She rolled, curling into a ball, trying not to die laughing as she said "Damn it, I knew it was a bad idea to leave you alone with my brother earlier."

"Ahh, but see, to me, it was a good idea." he muttered as he stopped tickling her to let her breathe and then leaned in a little closer, ignoring the small children's giggles and choruses of 'ewww.' before pulling her into a kiss which she willingly and easily responded to.

She blinked as she looked at him and asked, "Fred?"

"Yeah, doll?"

"What?"

"I wanted to do that." he stated simply, shrugging as if it were nothing. She leaned forwards and grabbing hold of the white t shirt he wore, she pulled him into a kiss, laughing as she said "And I wanted to do that. But we're not going to rush this, too fast, right? I... I'm really not that lucky or good at this stuff."

"We won't, doll, I promise." he muttered as he laughed and set out to tickle her again. At least he'd done something, so that if he did wake in 1998 or worst case scenario, not at all, he'd know he'd at least kissed her, she did know that he felt something for her, he was starting to fall for her. At least he wouldn't have any regrets.

But deep down, something told him they didn't exactly have to rush.. he just had this feeling that the glitch that'd bought them together wasn't going to right itself anytime soon.. Maybe when it did, he'd have a way to keep her with him.. He hoped so, he really did.


	6. 1998 2013

A/N: I've decided, in the interest of keeping this interesting.. The story also has the element of the 'books come to life' type thing.. Like where your favorite character steps from the pages and into the real world? It'll be explained better as the story progresses.

OMG, thanks to _wingsaremadetofly715 and sapurplemonkey,papergrenade _ for the follow and the fave. I'm so honored and thrilled that you count this story among your favorites!

No flames please? This is AU, just for fun mostly, just bringing back my beloved fred, giving him a love story. It's meant to be fluffy, sort of sexy, really funny more than anything.. Wasn't it depressing enough that he had to die in the books and then again in the movie? I had to at least TRY and write this when the muse struck.

* * *

CHAPTER 05:

1998

George sat up in bed, raking his hand over his hair, biting his lower lip. Okay, so people always claimed that twins had this unbreakable bond or something, that they could communicate beyond the normal planes of communication, but if this were really happening and not just grief overwhelming the ginger male, then this was one hell of a mess Fred had himself stuck in currently.

But it would explain where Fred was. The truth was out now, Fred, as well as several others, well.. They, apparently, were not dead. In the confusion that night, they'd vanished somehow. And none of them had returned yet. There was talk that something happened, and they might be stuck in an entirely different realm or plane of existance, maybe even the future.

The matter was being looked into, it had been for the better part of

He shook his head, remembering what'd woken him up, smirking a little. His brother, apparently, had been thinking about how he'd like for the girl who'd apparently saved his life, wherever he'd wound up at, that part, to George was still a little fuzzy. The thought had come through loud and clear and he'd actually sort of vaguely seen his brother, smiling, happy with a shadowy second person.

_'Forge.. This feisty little blonde.. You would like her. I can hear you now, you arse, telling me to quit stalling and go for it. And I am. I just.. I hope I get to introduce you all to her.' _

_'Gred, where the bloody hell are you? Bring your arse home. Mum's worried, mate. Really, really worried." ' _After thinking that and mostly to himself, he stood and stretched, stumbling down the hall to the kitchen, hungry. He needed to think, of course, but his brain also needed fuel to do this. 'Fine mess he's gone off, gotten himself into this time.' George murmured as he sipped a glass of water, ate an apple and looked at the clock on the wall in the kitchen.

Were they ever going to get Fred back at this point? And how was his brother doing, where ever he was at?

(2013)

"Take a break, doll." Fred said as he saw her rubbing her forehead while she read a thick and heavy text book, jotting notes down on a notepad as she did so, her head in his lap. She had finals this week and he could tell she was stressed beyond all stress. "You know I can't, Fred." she said as she stopped to look up at him, trail her finger across his lower lip.

He smirked as he leaned down and muttered, "Not even for a good snog?"

"Maybe for that." she said as she leaned up, meeting his lips halfway, the books, notebook and pens landing in a noisy heap on the floor in front of the sofa as he pulled her into his lap and then said "You've spent so much bloody time studying, love, it's a wonder your brain isn't exploding out of your head now."

"Ughh, don't remind me. I hate finals week."

"Me too." he pouted as he said "No bloody fun falling asleep on the couch with nobody hogging the blanket."

"You're lucky I think you're so enticing, Fred." she pouted as she added, "And for your information.. You, sir, are the cover thief. Not I." as she looked up, seeing him with a strange look on his face.

"Are you okay?"

"The weirdest thing just.. Nevermind."

"No, Fred, tell me."

"I could of sworn I heard my brother talking to me just now.. Like he was in my head or something..." Fred shrugged as he shook it off. Twins had links that defied all reasons, yes, but communicating mentally?

Then again, he'd never believed in accidental time travel and here he sat, alive and well in the year 2013...

Mariah bit her lower lip as she looked at him.. She hoped that didn't mean that whatever glitch that bought him into her life, bought him here wasn't about to correct itself and take him away. She was falling too hard and too fast for him and for once, she wasn't scared. For once it finally felt like someone would catch her when she fell.

"Doll.. Are you okay?" Fred asked in concern, sitting her upright, his thumb trailing her lower lip as he said "If anything does happen.. Somehow, by Merlin, you will be with me. I need.. I need you to know that."

She nodded, but she was afraid.. What if circumstances they couldn't control kept that from happening? How was she going to deal with that? She didn't know, and the thought of having to figure it out, having to go back to her old life, her boring and empty one..

Grim and dull.. Fred not only made her believe in love again, he'd actually opened her eyes about a lot of things. He'd done more than he'd ever realize for her.

She stood and smiling said "You're right, Fred.. I studied so hard, I should know the exam like the back of my hand.. Come to bed?"

He looked at her and asked, "It's okay?"

"I offered, did I not? Gets lonely sleeping, knowing you're in here.. Why do you think since we've started getting serious, started this, I've been just sleeping in here?"

He nodded, smiled to himself as he stood and picked her up over his shoulders, running down the hallway, tossing her gently onto the bed. He groaned as he sank into the soft cloudlike mattress and said "Bloody hell, woman.. And now I see why you sleep in until noon."

She giggled and looked up at him as she said "There's really no sense in you sleeping on the couch anymore.. We don't know how long we'll have this, each other.." quietly as he nodded in agreement and added, "But we don't have to rush into anything you don't want to."

She bit her lip, nodded. She'd cave soon, she knew it.. They were always touching and kissing, the little subtle things that indicated that they were happy, in love with each other.. They sat up for hours talking at night, they knew literally everything about each other at this point, even if it was really bad, like the story behind the scar that lie beneath the lip print tattoo on her wrist.

When she'd told him about that, the worst point in her life, he'd shaken his head and trailed slow kisses along her wrist as he muttered she was glad she hadn't been able to go through with it. He knew why she was so cautious about being touched, getting intimate with someone too soon. The story of course, sickened him, as it had her to have lived through it, but at least she'd been able to tell someone, finally without feeling like it was her fault.

He flopped into bed behind her, slid his muscular arms over her and pulled her against him, as his lips found the back of her neck. "Good night, doll." he muttered, smirking to himself. Lying here with her was nice, he could get used to it. He lie there in the dark trying to figure out what'd happened earlier, with his brother's voice being in his mind.. Maybe it'd been missing his family and his friends..

Or maybe he'd really heard George just now..

Either way, he continued to try and figure out some way that he'd have her with him, if and when the day came that he had to return to his own time. By now, he'd been here nearly 4 months. He was starting to settle, starting to wonder if the glitch would ever correct itself, starting to worry he'd never see his family or friends again.

Then he'd worry about having to leave her here, alone in this time.


	7. tragedy puts things into perspective98

A/N: I've decided, in the interest of keeping this interesting.. The story also has the element of the 'books come to life' type thing.. Like where your favorite character steps from the pages and into the real world? It'll be explained better as the story progresses.

OMG, thanks to _wingsaremadetofly715 and sapurplemonkey,papergrenade,sherlocked23 and MichelleCassidy _ for the follow and the fave. I'm so honored and thrilled that you count this story among your favorites and are following it!

No flames please? This is AU, just for fun mostly, just bringing back my beloved fred, giving him a love story. It's meant to be fluffy, sort of sexy, really funny more than anything, though with it's slightly sad moments (not many of those, can't write true angst to save my life, I'm afraid).. Wasn't it depressing enough that he had to die in the books and then again in the movie? I had to at least TRY and write this when the muse struck.

* * *

CHAPTER 06:

"Are you sure you guys don't mind watching her?" Mariah's sister in law asked as she held out her 3 year old daughter, looking from Fred, who stood in the doorway, to Mariah, who stood just outside the apartment.

"God no.. Gabby's my niece and my brother's in the hospital. Go. I got her, okay?"

"Thanks.. Since last night, haven't gotten much sleep." Veronica muttered as she and Mariah hugged each other, knowing and slightly fearful smiles. Her older brother had been in an accident the night before, on his way home from work.. Mariah and Fred had already been to see her brother, and she'd had to leave relatively early in, she'd never been fond of hospitals, really.. Having her brother lying there, hooked up to all the machines, well.. Suffice to say, Fred had been a huge comfort to have there.

Her sister in law left and Mariah stepped into the apartment, looked at Fred and said quietly, "Yikes.. I've umm.. I've never actually had her overnight before.." as she raked her hands through her hair, looked at the little girl in her arms, who was holding her own chubby little arms out to Fred. She seemed to like him, if he and Mariah went to visit her brother, she spent almost 90 percent of her time underfoot with Fred.

Mariah wasn't looking forward to his leaving, with each day that passed, she got more used to having him there, waking up and having to wiggle his arms from around her just to get out of bed in the morning. But he'd been here 6 months nearly, and the two of them were getting quite serious.. She just had this feeling that when the glitch did reverse itself, either things were going to work out, or she'd be stuck here, him either dying or back in 1998, his fate and god only knew what else altered as a result of his survival.

They'd told one other person of the ordeal, an older professor on her campus, kind of crazy man, who believed in things like this and he'd said that if this were true, then the only way Fred would get back to his own time, were if someone on his end, in the magical realm figured out what'd happened and figured out how to reverse it.

What'd stumped Fred was that Hermione's beloved time turner hadn't worked as she'd thought it would when they - according to george's latest 'mental message' - tried it the week before.

Fred put his hand on her shoulder and asked quietly, "You alright, love?"

"Just scared to death right now.. Beau.. He was probably my best friend, I mean he's my brother.. I don't wanna lose him. But the doctors said that if he worsens tonight.."

Fred hugged her while holding the little girl, kissing the top of his girlfriend's hair, muttered, "Let's not upset Gabby."

Mariah nodded, wiping her hands into her eyes as she said quietly, "You're okay with her staying tonight, I mean neither of us barely got any sleep last night."

He nodded, shushing her as he said quietly, "Yes, woman, bloody hell." while shaking his head, managing a little bit of a laugh as he added, "George and I used to have to help mum with Ron and Ginny. Remember?"

"Yeah.. I just.. Lots of guys are jerks about stuff like this."

Fred grabbed the remote, sat down on the couch with Mariah and Gabby, who not too much longer after sitting, crawled into his lap, cooing, reaching up for his eye. "Pwetty"

He turned on the tv and found some animated movie about princesses, turned her around so she could see it, grabbing a bag of chips they'd been eating the night before, while watching a movie, before they'd gotten the call about her second oldest brother.

And seeing her family together like they had been last night, it sort of really made him miss his own, because her family in lots of ways reminded him of his, just not as many siblings, - there were 4, 3 boys and then her, the youngest, all raised by just her father, her mother died when she was about 7- and he found himself wondering if he did get stuck in this time.. Would THEY be together long enough to have a large family, considering they'd both come from large families.

Which of course, lead to his attempting to picture it, laughing a little.. And he got the distinct feeling that in 1998, his brother was hearing his thoughts somehow.. At least with this going on, his family knew he was okay, he was safe. It wasn't the same as being there with them, of course, but it was something.

"Can she have chips?" he asked as she reached for one, making wide eyes at him. Mariah nodded and said "We can crush 'em, she should be okay.. My mom was feeding me table food cut up real small when I was her age." as she mashed up some of the chips and held them in her hands, letting Gabby take them and eat them, clapping her hands.. Obviously, Gabby thought this was a treat, because she was giggling and cooing, laughing like she were really getting away with something.

"Whoa, lil bit.. Slow down there with that milk." Mariah cautioned as she let Gabby have her sippy cup full of chocolate milk, Gabby and Fred laughing at a cartoon, making Gabby laugh and spit the milk everywhere. She watched Fred with the little girl, smiled to herself.. If he did get stuck here...

She shoved the thought from her mind, she'd never get that lucky, of course.. She finally meets the guy of her dreams, literally and metaphorically,and naturally, there are problems preventing them from maybe being able to stay together. She held out a small grain of hope that that wouldn't be the case, but as always, she was grimly preparing herself for a future without him in it, because any day now, she could wake up, find him gone, vanished without a trace.

"Stuff's bloody good, don't blame her." Fred said as he wiped the little girl's mouth off, looked up at Mariah and gave a slight grin of contentment. As much as he missed his family, he was also happy here. He wouldn't mind being stuck here, with her. But he wished the odds would work so that they could go back to his time, at least see his family again, on occasion.

If they were to get serious, he wanted them all to meet her, know her.

The ringing of the phone had her looking at him, biting her lip as she said quietly, "Can you watch her for a minute, just in case? I don't... I don't want her hearing anything, if it's bad..."

He rose to give her a kiss, which Gabby butted into the middle of, making the two of them kiss each of her cheeks, giggling about it, as he muttered, "Good idea.. I'll keep the tv on this princess movie, maybe she'll drift off to sleep.. "

Mariah stepped out the door and sighed as she heard her father telling her the doctors weren't sure if he'd make it another night.. That he'd almost flatlined twice in the past hour, and they'd sent everyone out of the room.

"Damn it. Daddy... What do you guys want me to do about Gabby?"

Her father sighed and said quietly, "When they talked about all his injuries, and how he might not wake up tomorrow morning, Veronica fell apart on us.. And I know how you were the night your mother was..."

Mariah's eyes watered, stung. "Yeah, daddy, I know.. I, umm.. I'm gonna go, let you go talk to the doctors. Just call me.. Please?"

"Okay, slugger.. And you.. You don't sit over there and let this get to you.. Just pray he defies odds." her father said as he added casually, "And if Fred tries to get you to talk about it.. Don't shut him out.. I did that after your mom died and you know what we all went through for a while there.."

"Yes sir." she muttered as she hung up and stepped back into the apartment, managing a smile as she realized Fred had been reading the series about himself, his family, their antics in his time 1998 and before, to her niece and they'd both fallen asleep on the couch. She covered them both up with the red and black lumberjack plaid blanket and sat down at the two person dining table, looking at the soda can in front of her, biting her lower lip.

Fred happened to wake up, smiled as he shifted the little girl around and put her on the couch, a pillow behind her, walked over to the table where Mariah sat, staring as if she were lost in thought.

"You alright?"

"Just thinking... My mom.. She died in a car accident when I was about 7... It was my dad left behind and the grief really, really did a number on him.. We didn't have any other family that had room or money to take us even.. Beau was probably 13.. He sort of took on the role of 'dad' for a year almost.. I guess that's why I'm so close to him.. If he doesn't wake up.."

She bit her lower lip and he pulled her up out of the chair, then down into his lap as he said quietly, "Hey.. I've met the bloody guy before.. Seems like he's the strong and fighter type.."

Mariah dried her eyes a little, nodding as she added in a little bit of a sad laugh, "And stubborn as hell too.."

"Just think that he will wake up."

She nodded and he stood, picking her up, carrying her to her room. Then he walked back into the living room and picked up her niece, carried her back into the room with them and lie there with her in the dark, the little girl wiggling around, chubby small arms going around his neck, making him laugh a little bit. Not knowing how much time he had with her, he decided that maybe he should make the best of the time they might have together.. Maybe they should actually have a serious discussion tomorrow, if everything turned out okay for her brother and the mood was right..

* * *

1998

"Well? You're the one with the bloody mental connection, brother.. How is he? Is he okay?" Ron asked as he looked at George, waiting. Hermione sat nearby, looking at the time turner, wondering if it were broken, or if they weren't doing something right.. Surely if he got there, he could get back by now. "What about this girl?" she asked, concerned for her friend.

"Oh, he's fine.. And he's safe.. According to what little I can hear without getting a bloody migraine, the girl's name is Mariah and she's a college student at one of those Muggle universities.. What?"

"Fred.. Settling with the one girl.."

"What's she like?" Molly questioned, concerned for her son. Others were also affected by this time glitch, and though the thing was still being worked on, nobody had found a solution yet.. It was beginning to look as if there wouldn't be one.

" She's going to school to be a nurse, I think? Oh and she's from a big family too, Mum. Only had her father as a parent, however.. She's blonde.. Probably has the same sense of humor as he and they can't even argue properly without one or the other laughing.. So he's happy." George explained as he rubbed his head then asked, "Any luck with the Time Turner, Hermione?"

"Not really. It's not.. It's sending me back in time, George, not forward."

"Love, might be a good idea to stop.. Last time, we bloody wound up in the Dark Ages, for the love of Merlin." Ron and Harry said as they appeared and sank down into chairs.

George gritted his teeth, doubled over a little and then said "Damn it, Gred.. Little warning when you're going to bloody start a conversation through the ages, brother?" as he said, "He sends his love.."

"That's bloody all?" Molly asked, frowning a little as George smirked and then said, "Mum, the other thing, it's kind of private. He wanted to ask if we've figured anything out, and if we could try and find a way to bring them BOTH back to 1998."

Molly smiled to herself and then said quietly, "So he does love her."

George furrowed his brow and then said quietly, "Bloody hell, that's not good.." as he said aloud, "According to Fred, she might lose the brother she's closest to.. They had to keep her niece tonight and it's got him thinking about things..."

"What kind of things?" Ginny asked curiously as George gave a secretive smile.. Some things were better left not repeated to the others yet, at least until they figured out some way out of this jam they were all in, possibly met the girl.. Besides, twins never break promises made to each other.

_'You love her, don't you, Gred?'_

_'More than I realized, Forge. Don't tell them that last bit, would you? Don't want mum getting her bloody hopes up and then something going awry, or this glitch reversing, me returning without her.'_

_'we're looking into a way to get both of you back here. mum's chomping at the bits to meet her, Gred.'_

_' i can imagine.. the timeturner's still not bloody working?'_

_'sorry, brother.. harry and ron, some of the others trying to get everyone who vanished like you back here have been everywhere BUT the future.. one of the other blokes, the lucky arse got back to the 50's, so he's home already.. rest of you are stuck, because we're also trying to figure out where everyone is in time.'_

_'getting a headache, and i think Gabby's waking up, we'll talk about how my talk with Mariah went later, yeah?'_

_'You better bloody tell me all of it, Gred.'_

_'Don't I always, Forge?'_


	8. 98 she said yes

A/N: I've decided, in the interest of keeping this interesting.. The story also has the element of the 'books come to life' type thing.. Like where your favorite character steps from the pages and into the real world? It'll be explained better as the story progresses.

OMG, thanks to _wingsaremadetofly715 and sapurplemonkey,papergrenade,sherlocked23 and MichelleCassidy _ for the follow and the fave. I'm so honored and thrilled that you count this story among your favorites and are following it!

No flames please? This is AU, just for fun mostly, just bringing back my beloved fred, giving him a love story. It's meant to be fluffy, sort of sexy, really funny more than anything, though with it's slightly sad moments (not many of those, can't write true angst to save my life, I'm afraid).. Wasn't it depressing enough that he had to die in the books and then again in the movie? I had to at least TRY and write this when the muse struck.

* * *

CHAPTER 07:

1998

_"Still nothing?" Molly asked as Harry flopped down, tired, Ron beside him, and George on the other side. "Nope, mum, not a bloody clue as to how in the hell my brother ended up in 2013 of all places, and in Muggle America. Hermione's trying to look into other sources of time travel than the time turner, since apparently all that bloody thing's good for is turning back time, not turning it forward.. If we could find a way to turn it forward, someone could go and get them both , then come back via time turner." George said as he rubbed his head and then said quietly, "This whole thing's barmy."_

_"Agreed." Ginny said as she walked in, looking at Harry who said quietly, "Nothing still, Gin."_

_Hermione nodded and then speaking up said "According to some things I've been reading in Muggle books.. Time travel can be accomplished.. But it takes a bloody lot of work and just the perfect conditions." as she held up a book written by a Muggle scientist named Professor Nichols at some muggle university. George and Molly, Arthur took the book as Bill raked his hand through his hair and said "So basically, Fred just might be bloody stuck there?"_

_"He just might be, Bill."_

_"This git's barmy." George informed Hermione as he held the book back out to her, then gripped the counter seconds later as he heard his brother's thoughts again, coming in loud and clear. His twin bond had been the thing that clued him into the fact that Fred wasn't gone, wasn't dead in the first place.. For some reason, when the pair had been split through time, his 'twin senses' went into overdrive.. _

_"Well?"_

_"He says that Riah's brother woke up round noon.. He's stable.. He's taken Riah to some little restaurant to celebrate. And to talk to her about what he wants to do, if we get this glitch reversed."_

_"Tell him we love him and we're crossing our fingers.. We all miss him. And I want to meet this girl of his."_

_"me too, mum." George said with a smirk as he listened to the private part of their little conversation._

_'Hey Forge?'_

_"Yeah, Gred?'_

_"Wish me luck tonight, brother.. I know it's fast, I know it's rushed, but you all won't stop until we're back there so I have to hurry things along.. I know it's her.. I have to spend my life with her."_

_"She'll say yes, Gred."_

_" We've only been together 6 months, brother.."_

_"And? You'll knock her bloody socks off, do this. We're working on a way to get you two here."_

_"Okay, alright.. Going now. Oh.. And did you 'see' her.. You know, earlier?"_

_"I did, Forge."_

* * *

His hands covered her eyes and she asked, "Fred? Where the heck are you taking me?"

"It's called a surprise, bloody hell, love." he muttered as he guided her to a back booth in the small diner they ate at quite often when they dined out and not at her apartment. Today was cause to celebrate. Her brother had survived the night, and he'd woken up at noon. He wasn't out of the woods yet, but the Muggle healers who'd been working on him seemed to think the prognosis was good.

And of course, there was Fred's recently and quite hastily made decision, to discuss their future with her.. Finally get it all out in the open, so that they both knew what they wanted in the long run.

After all, they were on borrowed time. Somehow, Fred just had this distinct feeling that it were now or never. If he didn't say it all now, he'd never get to say it.. And sometimes, cliche as it may seem, when you know, you know. And he'd known how he felt for quite some time now.. He'd just been loathe to admit it, because he was afraid he'd wake up and the glitch in time would be reversed, he'd be back in 98 and she'd be here still.

She felt herself being seated and finally, he took his hands away, revealing the back booth of the small diner they ate at a lot, a single blood red rose on a vase in the table. Fred shrugged casually, pretending he had nothing to do with it as he sat down and said "Thought you could use the food.. Nearly had the hell scared out of you."

"Yeah, I did. Have I ever told you how sweet you are?" she asked as Fred smirked and then said quietly, "All the time love, but I've gotta say, bloody love hearing it." as he leaned in, putting his hand on the back of her neck, his fingers tangling in her long and thick blonde hair as he gradually deepened the kiss. Pulling away, he said quietly, "There is another reason we're here tonight, love.. I wanted to.. I wanted to talk about us.."

She bit her lower lip. Was a breakup incoming?

"Yeah?" she asked, trying to keep her stomach from churning nervously as she waited on him to say something, anything really. Finally, he grabbed her hands over the table and said quietly, "I know it's fast.."

"What's fast?"

"Shh. Bloody hell, woman, I'm leading up to something I want to say." Fred smirked as he said this, then muttered, "But I know that I want to make the most of the time we have together.. And I know that when I leave.. I want you to come with me.. I don't.. I don't want to go back alone.. "

"Fred?"

"I guess, what I'm saying, is if you'll have me.." he continued, determined to get out the question he was trying to ask her. But before he could actually finish said question, she'd squeaked a yes loudly enough to draw stares from the whole bloody diner, and came round to his side of the table, was sitting in his lap. He looked up at her and said quietly, " I, ermm.. I talked to your father.. Seemed okay with it.. And he gave me something to give to you."

Fred slid the ring her father had given him a week or so before when he'd initially decided soon he had to talk to her, he had to ask her this, because not knowing what might happen from one day to the next.. Biting her lower lip, Mariah leaned in and kissed him as she muttered quietly, "Are you sure?"

"Woman, if I weren't sure,I wouldn't have asked you." Fred snickered as he held her against him and then said quietly, "Was sort of worried you'd turn me down." as he looked up at her where she sat in his lap.

"Why?"

"Because we haven't really known each other that long."

"There are extinuating circumstances, though.. I mean.. We don't know how much time we get.. Any day now." she sighed as she leaned her forehead against his, kissed him quietly, his hand resting on her bare leg just beneath the hem of the denim mini skirt she wore tonight, his thumb trailing slow lazy circles over her soft skin as he stood, picking her up and carrying her out the door. "But I thought you were hungry?" she asked quietly, looking up at him, biting her lower lip as he nodded and said quietly in return, " And I am.. But right now, I want to be alone with you.. If that's okay.."

She smiled, nodding, holding onto him as he carried her to the car and handed her the keys. They'd been working on his Muggle driving lessons, but he still had a bit of a way to go. It seemed like the short 4 and a half minute drive lasted hours but finally, they got to her apartment and inside of it, kissing breathlessly, no intentions of stopping.

Her mind was spinning.. They were going to get married.. Sure it might seem rushed, but they were on borrowed time after all. And she didn't want to waste a single second of it.


	9. wedding day surprises, 98

A/N: I've decided, in the interest of keeping this interesting.. The story also has the element of the 'books come to life' type thing.. Like where your favorite character steps from the pages and into the real world? It'll be explained better as the story progresses.

OMG, thanks to _wingsaremadetofly715 and sapurplemonkey,papergrenade,sherlocked23 and MichelleCassidy and anyone else I might have forgotten to mention, I still love you all sooooo much! _ for the follow and the fave. I'm so honored and thrilled that you count this story among your favorites and are following it!

Huge thanks to my reviewer! I love you all so much! Kisses to all of you!

No flames please? This is AU, just for fun mostly, just bringing back my beloved fred, giving him a love story. It's meant to be fluffy, sort of sexy, really funny more than anything, though with it's slightly sad moments (not many of those, can't write true angst to save my life, I'm afraid).. Wasn't it depressing enough that he had to die in the books and then again in the movie? I had to at least TRY and write this when the muse struck.

FYI: I chose **not** to write out a lemon for the previous chapter, when he's taken her out of the diner after asking her to marry him. But I'm going to write one into the story sooner or later. I mostly wanted to get the emotional feel for his question and her answer.. But they DID have sex that night.. And she IS pregnant now, as a result. Because damn it, what's cuter than little Freds?

Nothing, that's what.

* * *

CHAPTER 08:

She looked down at the simple sundress, her bare feet, the wild flowers in her hand.. And then up the flower petal strewn aisle to Fred who stood there waiting, looking confident,casual. The wedding march began to play and her heart began to race like crazy. Normally, she wouldn't rush these things, but this was entirely different. He was the love of her life, and he might not be around for much longer.. he said she'd go back with him, but she was afraid deep down that there just wouldn't be a way to make this possible.

They'd already defied odds so far, nearly being together for 8 months now. The sense of urgency wasn't subsiding, and since he'd asked her to marry him a month or so ago, things had gotten even more intense.. Especially if her 'present' to him on their wedding day were in fact true. She smiled to herself as she caught eyes with him and took her place at his side, turning to face him as the minister started to read them the marriage rites. She bit her lower lip as the words came easily, and she read off her own written vows to Fred who laughed and then read off vows she had no idea he'd written.

If things did work out, they were going to repeat this, for his family, when they were safely back in 1998. Both of them were adamant about family being important and latest reports from Hermione, a friend of Freds, another favorite character of hers from the series, had them almost having the glitch figured out.. And thinking that once she came back with Fred, she'd cease to exist in her time, causing nobody she left behind any pain. It'd be as if she weren't there.. And if this didn't happen, Fred said that George claimed that Hermione would do what had been done to her own parents to protect them for Mariah's family.

Fred grinned as the minister told him he could kiss his bride, and raising the lace veil she wore, he pulled her against him and kissing her he muttered, " And now, Mrs. Weasley.. We go home."

"Indeed we do." she said as she looked up at him, smiling, her hand raking through his hair. The reception was busy, people congratulating them left and right, but when her aunt offered her wine, she shook her head, blushing as she said "Maybe orange juice?"

Fred gave her an odd look, and her aunt started to giggle and before she could give her new husband his wedding present, her aunt, naturally, had revealed to the entire room, "And I do believe she's pregnant."

Mariah gave her aunt a dirty look and Fred gaped at her before picking her up and bolting out of the tented in area, over to a nearby group of trees where there wasn't anyone around. "Are you?"

"Well, according to 6 EPT tests, Fred, yes I am." she said as she looked at him, watched his face. He studied her a moment and then he grinned broadly as he kissed her forehead and then said "Well then.. Looks like there will be 3 of us going back, eh?"

"Apparently so, Fred." Mariah muttered as he pulled her against him, smiled that cocky and confident grin, his lips finding her forehead as he said simply, "So that's why you've been sick lately.."

"Mhmm." Mariah mumbled as she leaned against him and said quietly, "I know this is all going extremely fast, but.."

"I know, love.. But really, I don't think I'd want it another way." Fred admitted as he smiled to himself, thought about her surprise for him, and what his life was going to be like now.

* * *

1998

_George raised his glass and then said "Well, they apparently got married today.. A toast to my brother. Gred, we'll bring your arse back here, somehow. But for now, brother, we're all having a drink for you two." as Harry and Ron, Bill and Charlie, Percy raised their glasses and toasted. He winced as a thought from his brother came blasting through unwarned before hand._

_"Mum might want to sit down." George muttered with a smirk as he took a huge gulp of his firewhiskey and then waited on Molly to ask why. _

_"Why might mum want to sit down?" Ginny asked as George leaned in, whispered his brother's big news into his little sister's ear. Ginny smiled as she blurted it out and Molly shrieked, smiling. Arthur smiled too and then muttered, "And now, maybe we can get this whole bizarre mess straightened out. Has there been any news, Harry?"_

_"Hermione proposed her Time Turner idea to the others today, they're going to try and test it on one of the families stuck. If it works.. They could be bringing Fred and his new wife home in a week.. But we're not sure if it will work, sir, or even for how long. Hopefully it'll be enough to get everyone back where they belong."_

_Hermione nodded and then added, "And we still have to be absolutely certain that it's safe to do so.. Fred, apparently, isn't the only one who met someone and married them, while stuck in another time. And let's not forget.. Mariah is pregnant, according to George's announcement."_

_They nodded and George sat smirking as he thought back to his brother, 'Bloody hell, Gred.. send you off on your own for a few months.. You come back with all sorts of adventures.'_

_"I know, Forge."_

_"Mum's over the moon right now, she's even going through all our old baby things." _

_"Hermione.. Has she figured out anything?"_

_"Just that it is going to be attempted next week. I'll let you know when."_

_"Good.. I can't wait to bring her home, and see you all again, brother."_

_"And we can't wait until you're back here."_

* * *

She rolled over into his arms and he smiled, his hand sliding to her bare leg, as his lips found her forehead. "Today was one of the best days of my life." he admitted as she smiled and said "Mine too. Guessing you were talking to George just now?"

"And my mum knows.. About 3 of us coming back.. And she's in full blown baby fever now. So yes, we'll probably have our hands full." he laughed as he covered them up and said "We should get some sleep, love.. They could be taking us all back any day now. And we both have to get up early tomorrow."

"We do.. But I don't wanna." she muttered as she added, "Not sure why the doctor couldn't just see me after lunch."

"Shh... Sleep woman, bloody hell. Tomorrow, we find out what we already know.. At least I personally hope it turns to be true."

"Me too, actually." she muttered as they settled in, drifted off to sleep. Today had been one of the best days of both of their lives for more than one reason. And now, all that needed to happen was for this glitch in time to be fixed one way or the other, so they could stop living in fear and actually being happy, enjoying the fact that they would be together for good now.


	10. returning to 98, pt 1

A/N:

OMG, thanks to _wingsaremadetofly715 and sapurplemonkey,papergrenade,sherlocked23 and MichelleCassidy and anyone else I might have forgotten to mention, I still love you all sooooo much! _ for the follow and the fave. I'm so honored and thrilled that you count this story among your favorites and are following it!

Huge thanks to my reviewer! I love you all so much! Kisses to all of you!

No flames please? This is AU, just for fun mostly, just bringing back my beloved fred, giving him a love story. It's meant to be fluffy, sort of sexy, really funny more than anything, though with it's slightly sad moments (not many of those, can't write true angst to save my life, I'm afraid).. Wasn't it depressing enough that he had to die in the books and then again in the movie? I had to at least TRY and write this when the muse struck.

This chapter is short, but it's for a really, really good reason, I promise you all. :p It's also a cliffhanger. Don't you just love me now, lol?

* * *

CHAPTER 09:

He gaped at the screen, a slow and goofy smirk filling his face as he quickly realized that there wasn't just ONE baby.. "Bloody hell." he gasped as Mariah smiled softly, looked at the screen and then at Fred. "Look, baby, she's waving." she pointed out, grinning as Fred nodded and said "He."

"Actually, sir, you're both right." the doctor said after a few moments. Mariah smiled, hiding a laugh as she said "Well, I suppose that answers my next question.." Fred nodded and they smiled, his fingers grazing across her knuckles as he leaned in, kissed her forehead then asked the doctor in concern, "They're supposed to be that small, yeah?"

The doctor laughed and then said "Yes, sir, they're both healthy. So is Mom." as he let Mariah off the table, Fred picking her up, her groaning inwardly as she pointed out for a 5th time that day alone, "Fred, I can walk. I do have two perfectly good working legs, baby."

"And? If I want to carry my wife around all over the place then I will." he stated firmly as he put her down into the passenger seat of the car gently, got in on the drivers side. His hand found hers across the console and he leaned in, kissing her. "So.. I think I might have at least one of their names."

"What's that, love?" he asked quietly as he looked at her, smiled when she answered, "George."

After all, if the books were any indication, George would eventually marry and have a son that he'd name Fred. So this was a fair enough idea for Mariah. "And I've a name for the girl." Fred said as he smiled and leaning in muttered, "How about Marilyn."

"Hmm..Well, I was named after Audrey Hepburn and Mariah Carey, so... But are you sure? I was thinking Gianna..."

"Gianna's a pretty name."

"And we can call her Gin."

They'd only just parked the car outside of her apartment when out of nowhere, Hermione Granger and Fred's twin brother George appeared as they said quietly, "If you're all ready.. But we've got to hurry. Can only make so many trips back and forth with this during a days time, and there are still loads of others. But your mum, Fred, she was insistant."

Fred nodded and looked at Mariah who smiled and then said "Have they figured out what effects this will have on my time?"

"According to the first person we bought back, who met someone in the time they were stuck in, married them.. It'll be as if you didn't exist here.. In our time only. So far, everything looks like it's going to go smoothly." Hermione said as she smiled at the blonde standing next to Fred. George looked at them both and remembering they'd had to go see a doctor about the baby earlier, because that'd been the main thing Fred seemed to be worried about, was if the baby was healthy, if Mariah was alright and so forth.. "Well?"

Fred shrugged mysteriously as he said "When we're back at the Burrows, brother." as he looked at Mariah and took a few deep breaths before asking, "So.. Are you ready?"

Mariah nodded, slightly excited and a little more than nervous. She slipped her hand into his, George grabbing hold of her other hand, teasing her about her height as they shut their eyes and waited to be sent through time...

Both couldn't wait to see what awaited them back in Fred's time, 1998. Finally, they wouldn't have to spend every single second worrying, obsessing over whether they'd be able to remain together or not, when the glitch was fixed.

It was finally happening, now what lie ahead for the two of them and their soon to be family?


	11. returning to 98 pt II

A/N:

OMG, thanks to _wingsaremadetofly715 and sapurplemonkey,papergrenade,sherlocked23 and MichelleCassidy and anyone else I might have forgotten to mention, I still love you all sooooo much! _ for the follow and the fave. I'm so honored and thrilled that you count this story among your favorites and are following it!

Huge thanks to my reviewers, sapurplemonkey and my anon! I love you all so much! Kisses to all of you!

No flames please? This is AU, just for fun mostly, just bringing back my beloved fred, giving him a love story. It's meant to be fluffy, sort of sexy, really funny more than anything, though with it's slightly sad moments (not many of those, can't write true angst to save my life, I'm afraid).. Wasn't it depressing enough that he had to die in the books and then again in the movie? I had to at least TRY and write this when the muse struck.

* * *

CHAPTER 10:

The second they appeared in the middle of the small and modest living room at the Burrows, Fred knew it. He could feel himself and Mariah being hugged, probably entirely too tight, everyone was talking at once, and he was straining to hear who was who, really. So, he smirked and stepped onto the coffee table, clearing his throat as he said casually, "HEY!"

They looked at him and he said casually, "We are having perfectly healthy, ten fingered, ten toed boy girl twins. Mariah is healthy, a little tired from the whole apperating I'd imagine, " as he paused to look at her and asked, "Not sick are you, love?"

Mariah shook her head no, stepped onto the table with him, waving quietly, a hint of a mischevious smile on her face as she giggled a bit, before her husband continued, "But as you can all see, we're clearly all in one piece.. And married, also. But.. We'd like to redo it, so the lot of you can see us married. Any questions?" he asked, teasing grin on his face as Ron's hand shot up and he grumbled then said "Go ahead, ickle Ronnie."

"She's got bloody tattoos, brother."

"That she does, Ron.. Nothing gets past you, does it?" Fred stated as Hermione popped him on the back of the head, making him glare and pout for a moment, before asking, "How did you meet Fred?"

"He umm, kinda fell in front of my car on my way home from work one night?" Mariah said as Ginny laughed and said "Only my brother." before blurting, "What are you naming them?"

"Gianna and George." Fred and Mariah answered in unison as Fred's arms snaked around his petite blonde wife and he rested his chin on her shoulder, leaning down a bit.

"See, mum? He did something, he's going to name it after me." George said as he smirked, giving Fred a cheeky wink. Molly asked next, "And you dear, you eat, right? You're so little.." in concern.

Fred chuckled and then said "Mum.. I've seen her eat a bloody sandwich as long as her arm. So yes, I am taking care of her." while winking at his mother cheekily. Bill asked next, "Do you feel okay, brother? I mean both of you.. The time travel, we're not sure yet if it's going to affect anyone.."

"Feeling perfectly fine, brother." Fred said as Molly chided, "You can get off the coffee table now, Fred, really."

"But mum.. I'm making a speech.. I have no podium." he grinned as they stepped down and flopped onto the couch. Mariah tapped him and asked quietly, "Bathroom, baby.. Where is it?"

"And now, the little lady is regretting those buffalo chicken wings, yeah?" Fred asked, getting a glare and a pout as she nodded and then jumped up. He jumped up after her, picking her up, yelling up the stairs, "If anyone's in the bathroom, evacuate." before following her in, holding her hair out of the way. "I told you so, love. Never a good idea to stop for wings before you apperate through realms.. At least I'd think it wouldn't be..."

"Seriously, Fred? You're gonna rub it in NOW?" Mariah whined as she asked in concern, "Did they like me? I never really do well with meeting the parentals.."

Arthur knocked on the door and asked, "Daughter, you are okay, right?"

"Yes sir.. Just regretting not listening to Fred, sir." she called out as she stood and brushed her teeth, washed out her mouth. Fred smiled and said quietly, "Yeah, they liked you, love.."

"Good.. I saw this whole thing going at least twenty different ways in my head.. I was actually scared."

"No reason to be, love." he muttered as he hugged her against him and then said casually, "So, if you're empty now, love.." ignoring her playful glare as he helped her back down the stairs. It was nice to be home, but tomorrow, the real fun began.. Tomorrow, he needed to catch back up on work, finding them somewhere to live...

The smell of chicken and dumplings drifted up the stairs and Mariah groaned as she said "Mmm... I haven't smelled that since I was little and my mom cooked... It's nice to smell it again."

Fred smiled and said quietly, "I think my brother told her it was sort of your comfort food... Isn't that what you called it?"

"Mhmm.. Have I told you I love you?" she muttered as she kissed him and smiled. The worry was over, now they knew they could let their guard down and start actually building a life together. Sitting down at the noisy and crowded kitchen table, Mariah found herself getting drawn into this rather large family. Eating quietly, she listened to their banter and smiled to herself.. It felt like she was home.

"So, Mariah.. You were going to school to be a nurse?" Arthur asked as she nodded and said quietly, "Yes sir.. " smiling as he smiled and nodded. She finished emptying out her plate and Ron gaped and then said aloud, "And you all say I eat.. She packs it in like a chipmunk."

Mariah shot him a look and Fred reached across the table, lazily, but George spoke up and said with a grin, "let me, brother. I'm closer."

"You two don't start bloody fighting at the table." Molly warned as she looked at Mariah and said with a smile, "You get used to it, the noise, after a while."

"I like it, actually." Mariah said as she sipped her tea, watching Fred with his brothers and his parents, his sister.. This really did feel like home, and she could tell that she'd ultimately made the best decision when she agreed to marry him and come back with him.

Standing, Fred pulled Mariah from her chair and lead her outside, carrying her up the stairs to his room as he said calmly, quietly, "Bloody time travel is tiring."

"It is." Mariah said quietly as he slid into bed behind her, covering them up, kissing her neck as he said quietly, "Now we can sleep. Tomorrow we'll figure everything out."

She rolled over and kissed him goodnight, falling asleep. She was probably tired enough at this point, to sleep for more than a few days. She'd finally gotten past the part of all this that she'd been fearing, really.


	12. a normal but funny day at home

A/N:

OMG, thanks to _wingsaremadetofly715 and sapurplemonkey,papergrenade,sherlocked23 and MichelleCassidy and anyone else I might have forgotten to mention, I still love you all sooooo much! _ for the follow and the fave. I'm so honored and thrilled that you count this story among your favorites and are following it!

Huge thanks to my reviewers, sapurplemonkey and my anon! I love you all so much! Kisses to all of you!

No flames please? This is AU, just for fun mostly, just bringing back my beloved fred, giving him a love story. It's meant to be fluffy, sort of sexy, really funny more than anything, though with it's slightly sad moments (not many of those, can't write true angst to save my life, I'm afraid).. Wasn't it depressing enough that he had to die in the books and then again in the movie? I had to at least TRY and write this when the muse struck.

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CHAPTER 11:

He'd been up for maybe an hour, just sitting there, watching her sleep, smiling to himself in contentment. He'd come back to his own time, with her, and his deepest fear, that he'd die, hadn't happened. And in a few months, they were going to have two amazing little babies, a boy and a girl. This is not how he pictured his life happening, when the war had been a grim reality, but, he was happier than he'd been before, everything was going well. The thought had him a little wary. But he shoved the worries to the back of his mind, because other than their usual arguments, which were inevitable, they were both very strong willed and stubborn, there weren't any real problems to worry about.

Beyond their current hoping to find a place of their own, it got to be a little pesky when they'd be in the middle of something and someone would either burst in on them or something to that nature. Other than that, nothing but blissful and peaceful normal life.. Well, as normal as it got, considering he was Fred Weasley and he'd been to the future.. And he was a wizard who was perfectly content in his pranksterish ways.

Mariah rolled over and he leaned down, kissing her good morning as he muttered "Ron ate all the bacon, love."

"Damn it, that rat." she grumbled as she sat up in bed, stretching, as she went to stand, pulling him out of bed eventually as she said "We better hurry downstairs, Fred, or he'll eat the whole damn table." jokingly. Fred snickered and then called out casually from the doorway of his room, "Ron, if you've eaten all of the food, just know.." before Mariah stepped out and said "That a very angry pregnant chick is going to sit on you. And probably choke you." as Hermione snickered and then mouthed, "Told you, Ron, don't eat all the bacon."

Ron mocked her as he called up, "Try it ickle angry person." casually, Ginny palming her face as Harry groaned and said "This will not go well. Last time this happened, the end result was Ron getting beaten with every couch cushion in the living room by both her and Fred, and then George when he decided it looked too fun to pass up."

"She's cuckoo. Just like my brother." Ron muttered as Hermione smacked the back of his head and then muttered calmly, "Act your age, Ronald. Drink your pumpkin juice."

He grumbled and took a sip of the juice, grimacing as he glared at Hermione openly, Mariah snickering as she pointed out, "She's only doing that because she cares about you, numbnuts."

"What'd she call me?"

"Numbnuts, ickle Ronnie." George snickered as Fred laughed and raised a brow when he saw her grimacing. "Are you okay, Mariah?"

"Yeah.. Just a kick I think." Mariah muttered as she grabbed his hand, placed it to her stomach. He chuckled as he too felt the fluid ripple move across her abdomen. Then he laughed when she grumbled, "Hey.. calm down in there." and grimaced again.

The guys went outside and it left her inside with Hermione, Ginny and Angelina, all three of whom insisted that they get to feel the babies kicking. Hermione giggled as she said "Does it feel strange?"

"Sort of, yes. Sometimes it catches me off guard." Mariah admitted as Ginny bent and said "I'm your aunt Ginny. Soon I'll get to see you both, spoil you and teach you to do things to get your father back for every trick he's ever bloody pulled on me." as Angelina nodded and said "And George..If he gets left with the two of them.."

Mariah groaned and palming her face said quietly, "Both of them, actually. Fred's gotten me quite a few times with his little pranks." while smiling softly to herself, looking at him out on the lawn with his brothers and Harry, stifling a laugh when it looked like George and Fred were chasing Ron with something, before gesturing to the other three females to come to the window. Ginny groaned as she said "Mum's going to be so mad at them if they fly into the roses."

"Or Ron falls into them, again." Hermione groaned inwardly as she shook her head, stifling a laugh as she said with a smile, "At least everything's back to normal now."

Mariah nodded and then said quietly, " Hey.. I happen to thank God he fell in front of my car that night."

The girls shared a laugh before moving outside, flopping onto the grass watching their men 'roughhousing' rolling around in the grass. Fred got it in his head a week before to teach them all football..

So far, it wasn't going well, from the looks of it. Mariah laughed and then said quietly, "We should get a photo of this." before the girls scrambled back inside to find one of the cameras in the house, taking a few pictures of this attempt at a family football game.


End file.
